1 · POSITION
The Kōrokan at Fukuoka was a state guest house for foreign envoys arriving by sea — from Tang China, Silla and Balhae. Its kind existed in Japan from the Asuka period to the end of the Heian, and the Fukuoka house is last recorded in 1091. The register begins Japan’s record of receiving the foreign guest here, with an institution, centuries before a commercial inn. [1]
2 · FROM ENVOYS TO MERCHANTS
The house was first called Tsukushi no Murotsumi and later the Kōrokan. When the embassies ended the traffic did not: trade continued with merchants of the Northern Song, Goryeo and Liao, and the house came to be called the guest house of the merchants of the Great Song. A diplomatic lodging had become a trading one. It housed Japan’s own envoys and monks before they sailed — the missions to the Tang began in 630, fifteen of twenty planned were carried out, and eight ships were lost on the crossing; Kibi no Makibi, Saichō, Kūkai and Ennin are among those who stayed. [1, 2]
3 · FOUND UNDER A STADIUM
A scholar of the 1920s placed it under Fukuoka Castle. In 1987, during an excavation for repairs to the outfield seats of Heiwadai baseball stadium — built in 1949 on the site of former barracks — its remains were found in good condition. The Kōrokan Ruins Exhibition Hall opened beside them in 1995, in what is now Maizuru Park. [1]
4 · WHAT THE GROUND HELD
The excavations yielded ceramics from China of the eighth to eleventh centuries, from Korea and from the Islamic world, glass from Persia, roof tiles from local kilns, and wooden tags recording food sent from Kyushu and the Inland Sea. A reconstruction shows the size of the building and a washroom of the period. The house burned in the eleventh century, by one account by arson, and trade moved to Hakata. [2]
5 · ⚑ CANDOUR
⚑ No founding date is given for the Fukuoka house; one source describes about four hundred years of use, the other its last record in 1091. The arson is reported by the city’s guide and not by the encyclopedia. Its capacity is not described here. [1–2]
Sources & Further Reading
Sources checked 22 October 2026.